by Anita Waller
‘I’ll head back to the office,’ he said. ‘But we will need that key back for when Mr Ashton moves in.’
‘I’ll personally guarantee you will get it back.’ Marsden smiled. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
She watched as he mounted his bike and rode off, turning right onto the main road leading into Castleton. She just hoped he didn’t have to ride up Winnat’s Pass to get to wherever he was going next.
Hannah joined her in the hallway. ‘Shall we get out of the way and wait in the car, boss? There’s nowhere to sit.’
‘Good idea. And we can sit and think about why we didn’t know Alice Small used to live here, and possibly still has a key to get in. She’s proper giving us the run-around, isn’t she?’
They left the door unlocked and made a dash for the car.
‘Crap weather,’ Hannah grumbled. ‘I thought this was summer.’
‘Have patience,’ her boss said, ‘the sun will come out again. It may take a couple of weeks…’
‘So, you reckon that ladder is how access was gained to Judy Carpenter’s place?’
‘I do. I’m not convinced we’re going to find Alice Small’s fingerprints on it though. I think the ladder is part and parcel of the fixtures in this house, because there’s no other access to the loft. And whatever else I think about Alice Small, I definitely don’t think she’s stupid enough to handle it without gloves. No, there’ll be no fingerprints, but there may be a spot or two of blood. I don’t think she would have risked going out the back door, which is what we were meant to think happened, I think she’ll have gone back up into the attics, and out via here. I suspect she got changed in the bedroom after she killed Judy, transported the bloodied clothes in some sort of bag and disposed of them when she got home. Hence the new trainers. It’s a bit pie in the sky, I know, but I’m crossing my fingers that a bit of the blood found its way onto those ladders.’
‘Why?’
‘Why what?’
‘Why did she kill her?’
Marsden sighed. ‘I don’t know. I know she loved her nephew, but he’d been dead over a year when Judy was killed. It could be connected with Keeley Roy, and Henry of course.’
‘So there’s no motive?’
‘Hannah, stop being so logical. My brain’s hurting enough,’ Tessa grumbled. ‘Somewhere there is a motive.’
‘Maybe, but I’m still leaning away from Alice, and towards Grace Earle. What if she decided she didn’t want to share the money with Judy? Because I reckon they were in the fraud together, and I reckon it was initially set up by Grace, but then Judy realised Pam Bird, Tom’s birth mother, was the woman her sister was fleecing of lots of money. We’ve seen just how greedy Grace is.’
Marsden leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. Her mind was going around and around in circles. Throw Keeley Roy into the mix, and there were simply too many suspects. Maybe they’d done a Julius Caesar on Judy, and all had a stab or two.
Would Judy be able to supply the answer? What was so wrong about the woman that anybody would want to murder her?
Suddenly Marsden couldn’t wait to get back to the station, go through every minute detail about Judy Carpenter.
That was the point Tessa Marsden knew she desperately didn’t want Alice Small to be the killer.
Marsden pushed everything to one side, all the paperwork, the file folders, the half-eaten Mars bar, and stared at her screen.
‘Judy Carpenter, what am I not seeing?’ she murmured.
Her phone rang and she got the information from SOCO that she had half expected. No blood, fingerprints clearly available on the ladder from two people on file, and one other person not on file.
‘Who are the people on file?’
‘John Cannon and Keeley Roy.’
‘Thank you, that’s really helpful.’
She replaced the receiver and typed John Cannon into her search box. He had, apparently, fenced some televisions in his youth, and received community service. Nothing since. Nothing that said he might have leanings towards murder. And his fingerprints would have been on the ladder anyway.
But Keeley Roy? Why on earth would her fingerprints be on the ladder, unless…
Time to find out.
Marsden and Hannah walked up Keeley’s small front path and knocked on the door. She opened the door carefully, and then smiled when she saw who was standing there.
‘Sorry, I’m still a bit paranoid. Suppose I will be until you catch Judy’s killer.’
‘You’re quite right to be careful, Keeley,’ Marsden countered. ‘The most unlikely people can become murderers.’
She held the door open further. ‘Come in. You need me for something?’
They followed her into the kitchen. Henry was home from school and sitting reading at the kitchen table. Keeley asked him to go into the lounge for a minute, and he disappeared, sneaking an apple out with him.
‘Would you like a drink?’
‘No, we’re fine, thank you, Keeley. Something has come to light that I wanted to follow up with you. Did you notice we were here yesterday? At number four?’
‘John’s place? Yes, I saw the crime scene van, but I didn’t see you.’
‘We asked them to check for fingerprints and possibly blood contamination on a stepladder that was upstairs.’
‘The one in the wardrobe? He put it in there out of the way, once he’d packed all his clothes.’
‘You knew about it then?’
‘Knew about it? I went up and down it at least half a dozen times back in January or February. Can’t remember the exact date. It was a couple of days before he left.’
‘Why?’ Tessa gave a slight frown.
‘It was me being a good Samaritan. John had a pretty bad fall on ice, and had a cast on his leg and ankle and his right arm in a sling. Something he’d damaged in his shoulder. He couldn’t manage to get up and down the ladder and carry stuff, but he’d got the moving van booked and a new job to start, so he asked if he could go up via my loft ladder, which as you know is really like a set of stairs, work his way across to his and drop his boxes down through his loft hatch. Can you imagine the result of that?’
Tessa smiled. ‘I can. So you went back with him, and got the boxes down the ladder for him?’
Keeley nodded. ‘I did. There was only one heavy one and we kind of slid that one down the ladder, me holding it at the top, and him steering it down with his left hand. The rest I managed on my own, and then I got them downstairs and into the hall for him. I put the ladder back in the wardrobe because he said that’s where it was when he moved in. That was really the first time I’d spoken at length to him, he always seemed to be at work. We’d say hello if we bumped into each other, but that was it. He left a couple of days after my removal job.’
Marsden felt peculiarly relieved. And sad. That effectively took Keeley out of the picture but it put Alice back in it. Marsden had no doubt that when she contacted John Cannon later, he would confirm everything Keeley had said.
She thanked Keeley for her cooperation, and they drove away.
Keeley watched them go, unease settling over her like a huge grey cloud. Damn Judy Carpenter to hell and back.
35
The rain had stopped by Thursday morning, although the sun hadn’t put in any sort of appearance, not even a weak one. The pavements still looked dark grey, as though they had absorbed so much water they might never dry out again. Trees dripped occasional droplets as their branches moved in the slight breeze, and Kat watched as the girls at the Village Green café wiped down the outside furniture, knowing that the stalwart hikers preferred to eat and drink al fresco. Only torrential rain teeming down into their lattes sent them scurrying inside.
Kat felt nervous. Her late night text the previous evening had said, Two more sleeps x, and Carl’s messages were now at the stage of making her giggle. She hoped he didn’t want to sit outside the Village Green; it was a little too close to the office for comfort, and she didn’t w
ant to have to explain anything to Mouse and Doris, not yet. Inside the café, she could hide.
She was still looking out of the office window when Marsden pulled up. Hannah got out of the driving seat, and Marsden out of the passenger side. They walked into the reception, and one look at their faces convinced both Kat and Mouse that they needed to take the two police officers into one of the back rooms.
‘We’ll go in mine,’ Mouse whispered and Kat nodded.
All four of them sat around Mouse’s desk.
‘Is your nan not here?’ Tessa asked.
‘She’s gone for a hair-do,’ Mouse said. ‘She said she looked like a Dulux dog. She’ll be in later when they’ve turned her back into a terrier.’
Marsden smiled, but the smile soon disappeared. ‘I’m killing time, coming here,’ she said. ‘We’re here to take Alice Small in for further questioning, and she won’t be back from her run yet. I don’t want her to have the embarrassment of a police car waiting outside for her, so we’ll go about eleven.’
‘You think she did it?’ Kat was shocked.
‘Yes, I do. I’ve had a long talk this morning with my boss, and he agrees with me. She’s certainly fit and strong enough, and, although there are no fingerprints of hers on the ladder used for access to the loft above number four, I believe she’s not so stupid as to do the deed without wearing gloves. Bear with me while I go through what I think happened.’
Kat and Mouse exchanged a glance. This wasn’t sounding good. Kat pulled a notepad from her bag. ‘Just in case anything occurs to me,’ she explained.
‘I think,’ Marsden began, ‘that Alice has, or had, something massive against Judy. I suspect she knew why Judy was searching for Mrs Bird, and I think she knew she had to do something about it, for the sake of her nephew. She certainly loved Tom. Before Alice bought that property at Bradwell, she lived in one of Tom’s houses, the one where the chap from Bournemouth is going to live, number four. I believe she retained a key to that property, either deliberately or accidentally.’
Marsden paused to gather her thoughts. ‘On the morning of Judy’s death she was late setting off for her run and tried to say it was because she had to stay in for a delivery.’
Both Kat and Mouse nodded. ‘We all now know that the delivery was the day before. She tried to explain the error away by saying her memory isn’t what it used to be, and yet when she did do her run on that morning, at a later hour than normal, she told two of her friends, one being Rosie who writes everything down, that she’d had to wait for a delivery.’
There was a quick glance between Kat and Mouse. Marsden was making sense.
‘So to the deed itself.’ Again there was a pause, and Kat knew Marsden didn’t want to accept the facts. ‘I believe she reached the back gardens of that row of cottages, and that is who Judy saw when she called out. It wasn’t to scare a cat or a dog off, it was to tell the woman she despised to bugger off, she wasn’t wanted around there. I suspect Alice was surprised to be seen so early in a morning – it was around seven – and she did leave, but only as far as two doors down where she used her key to enter number four. I checked with the estate agents last night, and she handed in two front door keys but only one back door key when she left. She said Tom had the other one in case he needed to get in to her at any time.’
Kat felt sick. A lot of it was circumstantial, but powerful nevertheless.
Marsden was relentless. ‘She used the loft ladder that she had used when she lived there to go up into the attics, walked along until she reached the end one, then waited until she heard Judy go into the bathroom and either the bath or the shower be activated. Alice lowered the loft ladder, came down and raised it again. The next part is guesswork but I believe she waited in the bedroom, possibly behind the door, and she attacked Judy with something heavy to lay her out cold. We haven’t found the weapon that caused the massive wound on her head. Then she stabbed her.’
‘You can’t prove this theory.’ Mouse’s voice was flat, emotionless. The theory echoed her own thoughts, and she had dismissed them as fanciful rubbish, Alice wouldn’t stab anybody. Alice was like Kat; a Christian who believed thou shalt not kill.
‘No, you’re right, I can’t. And I’m gutted that I have to try. I like Alice, but it’s my belief that she did it. And what’s more, I think she will admit it. We have traced the most direct line she would run between the cottages at Hope and her cottage in Bradwell, and we have dozens of officers doing a fingertip search, looking for either bloody clothing, a knife or a bloodied weapon that she used to hit Judy on the back of her head. We will find something. It’s a lot of ground for them to cover, but they’ll cover every inch of it.’
All four sat in silence, taking in everything Marsden had spelled out, and then Hannah spoke. ‘Shall I make us a cup of tea?’ Her voice shook, an indication that there were four people in that room who didn’t want Alice to have done it.
They all nodded, and Hannah stood. ‘For what it’s worth, and I know I shouldn’t say this, boss, but I’m Team Alice.’
Marsden gave a rueful smile. ‘So am I, Hannah, so am I.’
Alice didn’t argue. She had been prepared for this, in a way. Hannah escorted her upstairs while she showered and changed out of the sweaty jogging clothes and into a skirt and top, then both of them returned to where Tessa was waiting in the lounge. She had inspected all of the photographs: there were several of Tom, a picture of a couple that she guessed would be Tom’s adoptive parents, and, funnily enough, one of Keeley and Henry Roy. Not one single photograph showed Judy Carpenter.
Marsden turned as Hannah and Alice entered the lounge.
‘There’s medication I need to take regularly,’ Alice said.
‘If you get it for me, I’ll take it to the station for you. Do you require a doctor in attendance?’
Alice gave a slow, gentle smile. ‘No, I have enough tablets.’ She cast a long lingering look around her lounge. ‘I don’t suppose I’ll see this place again, but I’ve been happy here. Thank you for your consideration, DI Marsden. I do appreciate it.’
She crossed to her sideboard and picked up two boxes of tablets, along with two small tablet bottles. ‘The rest are in the kitchen.’
‘Would you like me to get them?’ Hannah asked.
‘Would you mind, dear? It’s a yellow plastic basket on my fridge. Just bring the basket, I need them all.’
Hannah smiled but wanted to cry. She walked into the kitchen, took a carrier bag from a holder on the wall, and placed the tablet basket inside it. She took a deep breath and returned to the lounge, wanting the horrible day to be over.
Hannah was driving, the other two sharing the back seat. They were almost at the station before Alice spoke. ‘What do I do about my hospital appointment tomorrow?’
Marsden felt uncomfortable. This was quite surreal. The elderly lady by her side seemed to have accepted she wouldn’t be going home, and yet she had made no admission of guilt, in fact had hardly said anything. Marsden knew that unless they found one of the weapons involved, the rest was pretty circumstantial. She thought for a moment. ‘Can it be postponed?’
There was a small laugh from Alice. ‘Not really.’
‘Then I’ll make sure we get you there. Which hospital is it?’
‘Weston Park.’
Hannah’s head swivelled towards the back seat, and then just as quickly reverted to watching the road. The oncology hospital was known throughout Yorkshire and Derbyshire, and you didn’t go there if you had anything other than cancer.
There was a deep sigh from Marsden. ‘Where is it? The cancer…’
‘Lungs, liver and I’m at the stage now where I will be having brain tumours. That’s endstage. You’ll not get your trial, DI Marsden.’
‘Mrs Small, I’m so sorry.’
‘Don’t be. I’m ready to go. I’ve had a wonderful life, and although Tom was my sister’s son, he spent a lot of time with me, and that brought me a great deal of happiness. When I was diagnos
ed a year ago, I decided I would carry on with my running, keep as fit as I possibly could, and if God was gracious he would let me simply collapse and die while running the fields around Bradwell and Hope. That’s clearly not going to happen now, but I think once my running stops, the cancer will overwhelm.’
Hannah parked in the police station car park, trying to shut out the conversation she had just heard. She couldn’t begin to imagine what would happen now. Surely they couldn’t put this old lady in a cell until she died.
They walked into the station and Hannah booked Alice in while Marsden led her to an interview room. A constable followed them in, and she asked him to get a cup of tea for the prisoner. He disappeared, and Hannah joined them.
‘Don’t treat me like glass,’ Alice smiled. ‘I’m a tough old bird. But I will enjoy a cup of tea. Now, DI Marsden, I’m going to tell you everything when you’ve got yourself organised. I had hoped you wouldn’t have been quite so smart and I would have had a bit longer, but it’s not to be, so… Everything is written down at my home, and I know the envelope will be found when you search the place. You will be searching it, won’t you.’
Tessa nodded, feeling out of control. ‘Please don’t say anything else, Alice, until the tape is running.’ The door opened and the constable carried in her cup of tea, placing it on the table. Tessa started the recording and everyone logged themselves in. Alice took a sip of her tea, and waited patiently.
Doris felt angry. She listened to her two girls tell of everything that had happened while she was having her hair done. ‘Do we believe Alice did it?’ she demanded.
‘Tessa does, but I’m not convinced Hannah Granger agrees with the boss.’ Kat checked her watch. ‘It’s just after two, so they’re bound to be interviewing her now.’ She pulled the notebook towards her where she’d tried to write down every point Tessa had made, showing how guilty Alice was. She handed it to Doris. ‘I think there’s something missing from this.’